A pretty accurate article in the Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/7038521/Liverpool-fans-stand-by-Rafael-Benitez-and-reap-reward-with-win-over-Tottenham.html
Liverpool fans stand by Rafael Benitez and reap reward with win over Tottenham
Liverpool fans express their support for beleagured manager Rafael Benitez and are rewarded with improved performance against Tottenham.Faith tested, patience stretched. Liverpool’s endless, tortuous crisis, which began in October and is unlikely to end before the season’s close, has drained the club’s fans of hope and certainty.
The Rafalution, largely unquestioned since its beginnings in 2004, seems to be crumbling. On Wednesday night Anfield’s proletariat declared its allegiance.
It was four minutes after Howard Webb had blown his whistle to begin the game, four minutes after the last echoes of 'You’ll Never Walk Alone' had drained from the ground, that the first chants of Rafael Benítez’s name begun to wash down the Kop.
They did not come as a surprise. Liverpool’s hardcore support, the travelling Kop and the best weathervane of emotional opinion, had shown their loyalty at Stoke, and the banners doing the same were unfurled long before kick-off.
One, held aloft by a lone fan, simply read: “I still trust Rafa.” Another assured: “Rafa – You’ll Never Walk Alone. Fact.”
The ever-present flag of Benítez, head held aloft and stylised like Che Guevara, which has become a fixture on the Kop in recent years, still flew.
“Siempre es possible,” it reads, one of Benítez’s mantras reproduced in the manager’s native tongue. “It’s always possible.”
The unquestioning fidelity of Liverpool’s supporters seems to mystify many.
This is a club which has never dismissed a coach in the middle of the season, and has no wish to break that habit now. It is a club which treasures the past more than any other.
Istanbul, and Cardiff, and Old Trafford, are not so long ago. Anfield’s memory lasts longer than that.
It is perfectly true to say that Benítez would not have been granted such licence at another club. But then not all clubs are like this one. Even George Gillett, the quieter of Anfield’s Americans, and thought to be the less convinced by the Spaniard’s abilities, came out in support of his manager yesterday.
That may be understating the case, but his willingness to persevere suggests there is one crucial aspect of the Liverpool Way which, perhaps, he is beginning to understand.
More evidence that Benítez will be given time came from Cees van Nieuwenhuizen, Guus Hiddink’s agent, who revealed yesterday that talks he had held talks with Liverpool over the possibility of his client replacing the Spaniard were bunk.
“That is absolutely not right,” he said. “Each day I am surprised when I read comments in Russia, in Italy with Juventus or in England, first with Manchester City and now with Liverpool.”
Benítez, indeed, seems set to be granted the same patience which has been afforded Alberto Aquilani.
The Italian began here in his favoured role, behind lone forward Dirk Kuyt, and produced an immediate flash of quality to supply the Dutchman for the opener.
Aquilani will have bought himself more time with the sceptics who believe he will never be able to adapt. They said the same about Benítez, of course. Six years on, he is still here, still fighting, still granted the benefit of the doubt by his patient public.
